When I moved to Cambodia, I brought my entire Nike leggings collection, because that is what I used to wear to work almost every day, it’s 90% of my clothing collection and it’s what I would wear if I was moving to a tropical place – like Cambodia.
Unfortunately for me, leggings aren’t consider work appropriate so I’ve been hustling to find ethically sourced, professional looking pants that I can rock to work and still keep as cool as possible. That is how I found byTavi! Not only are they cute and ethically sourced – they have POCKETS! Be still my heart.
Here is a little bit of information about byTavi.
When Tavi came to Center for Global Initiative (CGI – a NGO based in Cambodia) in 2008, she found herself in a desperate situation. Her husband had recently passed away and she was the sole caregiver of her two young children and a relative. Struggling with her health, she was weak and had no resources to sufficiently care for herself, let alone her family. Surrounded by poverty and struggling to make ends meet, she sought a solution.
She approached CGI and requested a sewing machine and seamstress training. Three short years after she began sewing pillow covers, she had inspired over thirty other women in her community to join a sewing team, whose products were to be labeled byTavi.
Today, the byTavi Workshop serves as much more than a vocational training project.
Beyond seamstress training, byTavi desire each woman to realize and reach her full potential. What started as four women sewing pillow cases, is now over 40 women sewing a full line of handbags and clothing. In partnership with their designer, the byTavi team has learned to take a sketch and bring it to life. They take pride in knowing that the byTavi line is a product of their workmanship.
What a delight to know the story about Tavi! Also, that is an enormous jack fruit! How many pounds do you imagine it was?
Thanks, Melinda. There is a whole trove of other social good businesses I’ve written about on this blog – you just need to scroll back and check them out. The jack fruit came from our CEO’s house – the entire team eat it in a day! It wasn’t that heavy, just a little big / awkward to hold. I think I’ve already adjusted to the metric system. I would say it was like 3kg.